


Derek Hale's Possible Heart

by MellytheHun



Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Hale Family Feels, M/M, Prompt Fic, hale siblings, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 11:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1981359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellytheHun/pseuds/MellytheHun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An anon sent me a sterek prompt for Laura teasing Derek and Stiles joining in, then somehow sharing their feelings for each other in the mess of things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Derek Hale's Possible Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6393430) by [Sara_Kain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sara_Kain/pseuds/Sara_Kain)



> I admit that I only got into AU’s recently, because I tend to lean towards canon divergent story lines. I like the characters with their backstories untouched, so I don’t usually enjoy ones where the realities are so different. So, I kind of filled the prompt? I like the tragedy of the loss of Laura. It was a defining moment in Derek’s life and I love the mystery of never fully knowing what he may have been like before losing her. There’s so much possibility and his character’s tragedy is palpable like that. So, Laura is still dead, but taunting him anyway.

The thick journal is leather bound and on the first page, in tiny cursive writing it says,

" **To The Person That Conquers My Little Brother's Possible Heart: Safety Tips, Cheat Codes and Partial User's Manual."**

"What is this?" Stiles asks, reverently.

He can feel the gravity of this moment when his eyes catch 'By Laura Hale, The Responsible One' at the bottom of the page. He's standing in the middle of Derek's loft, holding something Derek probably regards as holy. The last fingers to brush these pages belonged to a young woman whose passing broke a part of Derek that couldn't be fixed.

A minute ago, he was in a screaming match with Derek. The same old; Stiles saying he's useful, Derek saying he knows so, but doesn't want him in danger if it's avoidable. Stiles telling Derek that Derek's not the boss of him, Derek getting defensive at having his maladaptive sense of authority bucked.

And so it goes.

In the midst of the fight, though, to Stiles' dismay and confusion, Derek literally choked on words. Stiles could tell he was trying to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. He stormed into his room, brought the journal out with him and handed it to Stiles. And now they stand with a cautious quiet. Derek replies,

"Laura made it. I wasn't allowed to read it. I don't know what's in it. She left it in a safety deposit box. She left instructions with it, to give it to…"

Stiles' heart stutters, but all Derek can manage to say is, "You."

Stiles isn't always tactful or tasteful, but he is rarely ashamed of that. This is one of the few times he doesn't open his mouth, in fear that whatever might come out could break the moment. He and Derek are having a shared space of time and it is heavy, crackling like lightning, it is hot and electric and suspended around him. He turns the first page and there are notes.

1\. Our mom calls him 'bun' and 'bun bun' when she's feeling playful with him, because of his rabbit teeth. He's so paranoid about them. Feel free to use that information for good or evil. (He makes it worse by how much he loves carrots. He looks so dumb eating carrots.)

2\. He was 10 when he saw Homeward Bound and he cried for an hour. Like, obviously he was young, sure, but too old to be inconsolable for an **hour**.

3\. In the 8th grade, the school cafeteria stopped selling strawberry milk – Derek was the only buyer of this milk, by the way. Derek, singlehandedly, petitioned for its return, harassed (literally – there were threats involved) the administration and school council and principal until they brought it back. He bullied the entire basketball team into buying them every day. PTA moms feared him. He was unstoppable. They'd put a spoiled, pubescent, young werewolf in a high school full of hormone-addled teens and taken away his only vice. They didn't know they'd created the perfect storm. He was so powerful.

4\. He prefers Pepsi over Coke. Maybe he's a communist, I don't know, I refuse to take responsibility for this.

Stiles looks up to Derek with wide eyes and he asks quietly, "You've… never read this?"

Derek only shakes his head. Stiles flips through the pages with his thumb, thinking it must be hundreds of pages of information. He stops on one page because he swears he sees a superhero name. He is right.

33\. He hates Batman. Isn't that weird? He loves Superman and Spiderman. When he was introduced to Spiderman, at 7 years old, he said to me, "I like him cause he's just like me, but spider."

34\. He will eat any dried veggies or fruit. You can woo him with dried mango. I guarantee he'll go weak in the knees if you bring him dried mango.

35\. Derek taught me not to slut-shame.

Stiles flips to a random page, further down, trying to pick only one to read.

72\. Every new driver has a 1st accident. Derek had his while I was in the passenger seat because he got distracted by booty across the road. Seriously. Just some fine booty, bending over to pick something up and suddenly we're parked on a fire hydrant. Dad wasn't even mad, he just laughed at Derek for like 30 years.

Stiles laughs out loud at that and then notices Derek scowling. Derek's eyebrows are communicating anger, but three years into befriending Derek, Stiles now knew what they meant. These particular eyebrows meant he was feeling judged and left out. Stiles doesn't know if he should share what he was reading. It feels like a sacred bond between himself and Laura; a girl he'd never met, but she'd wanted to meet him, apparently. She'd left these insights for him and him, alone. He wants to hoard her wisdom.

"Derek," Stiles begins, "Laura…" He glances down at the open page and finishes, "…really cared about you."

Derek looks shocked and then very suddenly too close to crying. Stiles' heart sinks and he wonders what the hell the protocol is for a crying Derek Hale. He wasn't ready for that to happen in his line of reality. It doesn't happen, though; Derek schools his features into false bravado when he says, "Yeah, I – of course. I know. What did she say?"

Stiles smirks a little, glances down at the thick journal and replies, "Uhm. A lot."

Derek looks insatiably curious, but Stiles interrupts anything he might ask with, "Derek, why… why are you giving this to me?"

There's a pregnant pause and Stiles is scared now that he's said whatever it is that's going to break the moment. Derek's mouth opens, but nothing comes out again. Stiles' brows curve, "Are you giving up? Cause, dude, you'll find someone – I know your track record isn't great, but you'll eventually find someone to give this to. Look, I – "

"Shut up, Stiles," Derek groans, massaging the bridge of his nose, "That's not it."

"So," Stiles mutters intelligently, casting his eyes down at the spine of the journal; he feels hopeful and terrified and weirdly honored and fearful of misreading, "this…"

"Is for you. For you," Derek completes.

Stiles' moves his eyes back to Derek and Derek nods. He can't get the most important words out, but he says again, "You. You."

Stiles looks down to the page he randomly selected and it says,

98\. Derek got pantsed at his 14th birthday party. He can't even hear someone bring it up without his ears getting red.

99\. Oh yeah – his ears turn red if he's embarrassed.

100\. Hug him. I know this isn't really like the rest of my points and stuff, just hug him. I hug him all the time and I worry that when he eventually moves out and gets his own life, that no one will do it. He's a tactile guy that has a lot of issues asking for affection. Hug him, even if he doesn't 'need' it. Hug him and make it too long. Those are his favorites. (He'll say otherwise; don't believe him.)

101\. He can moonwalk. I don't know how he knows, but he can waltz and tango too. I get this inkling that Uncle Peter taught him how. (A/N: If Derek hasn't mentioned Uncle Peter, he was wounded the night our family was killed. Derek loved Uncle Peter a lot, even though he could be a jerk sometimes. Derek really looked up to him.)

102\. He hates all things spinach. Dry spinach, cooked spinach, spinach in shakes, baked into breads, put into pasta, steamed, boiled or made into dip or cream. He abhors spinach. I don't even get how. I don't know what awful, traumatic thing happened to him as toddler that made him the horrible, spinach-hating person he is today, but I bear no responsibility for this.

103\. When I was 15, I was scared about my dance recital because a lot of my family would be out of town and none of my friends could make it. Derek was the only one available to come support me and he brought the school debate team, football team and basketball team (boys **and** girls). He and three other jocks ushered heartbroken parents out of their first row seats and basically stole them. He was an absolute menace and then had the entirety of the first four rows in the auditorium whistling and barking inappropriately as soon as I came on stage. I was literally dancing to Swan Lake and had to not laugh at what sounded like a football game audience. I heard him yell out, "GOT-DAM, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A JETÉ BATTU SO FINE?" and one of his douche basketball teammates yelled back, "I KNOW I HAVEN'T, GOT-DAM!" He and his teammates screamed and whistled when I was done and then held up their lighters for like 5 solid minutes. Mom grounded him for a week. (It was one of the kindest things he ever did for me and I'm smiling just writing this down.)

104\. He once fell asleep standing up. It was kind of amazing, actually.

"You…are giving this to me," Stiles hesitantly says more than actually asks, but the curious insecurity is evident in his voice.

Derek nods and Stiles' gaze is heavy. He starts mapping Derek's expression, starts wondering how he's going to fit this new information into his brain's Derek Hale schema. He wonders if Laura knew Derek misrepresented himself so much that she knew this would come in handy. He wonders what possessed her to make it, if not to help him express what she knew he was always too scared to say he needed or wanted. Stiles smiles shyly and adds, "Because… you love me."

Derek freezes and Stiles grins more widely. He steps towards Derek and Derek looks like he's contemplating running.

"What did it say in there?" Derek asks again, looking suspicious and nervous.

Stiles tilts his head and chews his lip, trying to put together how to explain it without spoiling his and Laura's secret.

"How… to love you, I guess…"

"What?"

Stiles ignores Derek's disbelief and confusion and just wraps his arms around Derek's hulking torso. Derek makes a strange kind of grunt of surprise and takes a long moment to put his arms around Stiles too. Stiles realizes he's not yet told Derek he loves him back. That he's not yet said that he's been in love with Derek since he was sixteen. He decides he will. He'll say it once he's done with his hug. Done with his too-long hug.

"Stiles, you can let go now," Derek tries.

Stiles smirks and fights a laugh before replying, "No. Not yet."

Derek sighs long-sufferingly, but Stiles knows better. Now, that is.

What Stiles doesn't know is what's waiting for him on the last page of the journal.

1000\. He loves you a lot. He loves you more than he knows what to do with. I know this because I just finished talking to him about this journal and who it must be given to. He loves you like the sun will rise, like it will set. He loves you like the pull between the tide and moon, he loves you more than what he is made of. He loves you in spaces that have no more room, he loves you at times that there is none left. He loves you so much that it is not a part of himself, it is an entity all its own. It lives and loves beyond him and the tight restraints of terrestrial space and linear time. He loves you and he might not say it; not because he's dumb (even though he can be), but because he knows there is no way to say it. He can't equate it. He can't relay it. He can only feel it and live it and give it to you. And you're someone that can love him that strange way he is. And I'm so, so glad he's finally found you. I'm so glad he has you. Finally. Finally.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I got a ton of requests from people to make a sequel to Derek Hale's Possible Heart and I was so moved by all the positive feedback, that I made it! Like the original, it's short and full of random head canons. Fluffy to a fault. I hope it's just as well-received and that the people that asked me for a continuation of it enjoy it!

Stiles wakes in the morning, anxious for his date already. It's only nine, and his date isn't until seven in the evening, but he's already got adrenaline rushing. Laura's journal sits on his bedside table with a bookmark. Stiles went on a ten minute binge with it, but then decided he wanted it to last him. So he only allows himself to read two to three facts a day. He'd sped through the first ten pages, but now he's paced himself. Every time he turns a page, he's terrified that a blank one will be staring at him. He is too loyal a reader to skip to the end and see where that end lies. He likes to think he can imagine Laura's voice, what she sounded like and maybe what her laugh was like, what it felt like to be around it when she erupted with it.

He opens to his bookmark and it says,

53\. He went through a Patrick Swayze phase that, at 16, I'm not totally sure he's out of.

54\. I'm not messing with you – he still has a Dirty Dancing t-shirt that I'm positive he bought in the Girl's section in Forever 21 and after he saw Roadhouse, he just roundhouse kicked everything he could. Mom yelled at him once for roundhouse kicking on the front porch and accidently destroying one of her hanging, potted plants. Granted, he was 12, but he told her that eventually, there would be a day that the only determining factor in whether or not we would die a horrible death would be how precisely he could land a roundhouse kick. She let him dream.

55\. He used to bite his nails all the time, until I convinced him to let me paint his nails so that it would taste gross when he did. It actually helped him to stop, but I'm pretty sure he still uses that clear-coat thing sometimes. I have no way of proving this. Believe me, though. Because I swear I smell it sometimes, but I am never able to find it.

Stiles inhales deeply through his nose and smiles. He remembers hugging Derek tightly and listening to his thumping heart.

" _I…"_

" _What?" Derek had asked nervously._

_Stiles pulled away and could hear how fast and hard his own heart was beating. He smiled excitedly and ordered, "Take me on a date."_

" _What?"_

" _A date. D-A-T-E. An occasion. A social appointment. A romantic meeting. An engagement made prior to – "_

" _I got it, asshole," Derek mumbled, but Stiles could tell he was still anxious, maybe a little embarrassed._

" _Saturday. On Saturday. Take me out."_

And he had run out of the loft like that. Clutching the journal, giddy and high on Derek's sent clinging to him. It was only when he parked outside his house that he realized how far away Saturday was. That had been on Sunday and the week had been longer than any other Stiles had ever lived through.

Stiles went back to some of the beginning pages he'd already visited.

10\. Derek doesn't cheat. Ever. Even when he can, even when he wouldn't get caught. He's usually a really good sport, but don't bring up Monopoly.

11\. I'm serious about that – don't bring up Monopoly. If you need to know, ask me in private some time.

Stiles swallows thickly when he reads it, just like he did the first time he read it. He skips a page, to escape the hot, sick feeling climbing up his throat.

22\. Mom rented a small dance room for Cora's third birthday, because she was in some weird toddlers' hip hop class at the time. All her tiny, annoying friends were there and all our relatives were there too. Then, some little girl was being a fucking brat and broke one of Cora's toys in a fit of jealousy? Because children are literally satanic? Cora was inconsolable and so Derek, being Derek, highjacked the karaoke machine and serenaded Cora with 'When I See You Smile' by Bad English! You remember that song? He actually belted out and made enormous, theatrical gestures through the whole thing. He had Cora back to laughing and clapping in a hot minute. I'm pretty sure Uncle Peter has video of that. It was perfection.

23\. Derek really doesn't like anything cherry-flavored. He likes cherries. Just nothing cherry-flavored. Which makes me want to punch him.

24\. He doesn't play an instrument, but he's always been in choir and in middle school, he was in a prestigious youth acapella group. They did 'Beyond the Sea' by Bobby Darin and Derek got the solo and he does a spot-on impersonation of Bobby Darin which I am forever proud of him for.

25\. You probably shouldn't allow him to cook for you. He makes a really amazing tomato sauce from scratch, which dad taught him to make, but otherwise he is a hazard. He once managed to set a teapot on fire. So, if he is making you something other than a magical spaghetti dinner with his super awesome sauce, it might be a plot to kill you both.

26\. He was almost charged with a felony when he was 14 for stealing the mail truck. I don't know what favors mom had to call in to have the charges dropped, but he literally stole the mailman's truck. I'm pretty sure his butt-buddy Samson put him up to it. All I know is that it was early afternoon and I heard Derek cackling wildly and when I went out to the front yard, I saw him being chased by a mailman, going maybe 15 mph down the road and Samson was laughing hysterically in the grass.

27\. If you want him to dance like a white dad at a BBQ OR Michael Jackson, put on anything by Earth Wind and Fire. It's a toss-up. That's the fun of it. Especially 'September' – I think that's his favorite song. If it isn't, I'll find out what is and put it in here later.

28\. Seriously, Derek would be at home in a nudist colony. I've seen more of him than I ever wanted to. Ugh.

29\. He takes the LONGEST SHOWERS, OH MY GOD, WHAT IS HE EVEN DOING IN THERE? FILING TAXES?

30\. This is an embarrassing story, but I think it's worth it. So, after a sleepover in middle school, I felt super self conscious about my crotch. All the girls at this sleepover had gotten into bathing suits to go swimming and it was the first time I'd seen other vaginas. So, I noticed they all looked slightly different. I was asking mom about it and there is NEVER any kind of privacy in our house, but I thought, for the sake of my pride, no one would say anything. Mom is in the middle of saying "vaginas aren't identical, but if you've seen one, you've basically seen them all," when Derek came sliding down the stairway railing in his pajamas and said, and I QUOTE, 'Vaginas are inside, mom. Vulvas are the outside. Every vulva is different.' And then he just grabbed some milk from the fridge and went to bed like it wasn't the weirdest shit to ever come out of his mouth and like Peter wasn't laughing so loudly from his room that the whole house was shaking.

31\. Derek is the shittiest ice skater.

32\. Derek and I went to a sleep-away summer camp one year and he thought it'd be really funny to tell everyone that my name is 'Laurie' instead of 'Laura' because he knew it'd drive me up the wall. He was right and after correcting about 100 people, he went to introduce me to his friend as Laurie and I punched him in the throat. We were kicked out and mom never sent us to a camp again.

Stiles starts chuckling to himself when his father calls him downstairs and so he follows the smell of turkey bacon and whole wheat pancakes to the kitchen.

* * *

"Who was your favorite superhero, growing up?" Stiles asks, already knowing the answer.

Derek looks like he struggles to remember for a brief moment before he says,

"Spiderman, I guess."

Stiles takes a truly, remarkably gross bite into his greasy burger before wiping his mouth and asking,

"And as an adult?"

"I dunno," Derek shrugs, "Black Widow, maybe?"

"Another spider oriented hero? Is this thing a spider-thing kind of thing? Is it a spider thing? Because if you're the kind of person that _likes_ spiders, this isn't going to work."

Derek smirks and Stiles counts it as a victory. He stares at his plate for a second, enjoying the nervous butterflies fluttering in his gut. He smiles to himself and looks up when Derek clears his throat. He looks harmless. His expressive eyebrows are worrying at Stiles not eating and Stiles laughs a little and shakes his head, to say not to worry. Derek gets the message and tentatively goes back to eating. He pauses and then asks,

"Who is your favorite superhero?"

"Wolverine."

Derek gives him a dry look, "Shut up, Stiles."

"I'm serious!" Stiles defends with a grin, "He's the coolest. I mean, the hair needs some work, but he's a total badass."

Derek rolls his eyes, but smiles shyly to let Stiles know he agrees. Stiles adds quietly,

"After everything he's been through, by all means, he could have easily been a villain. Like, no one would blame him. After everything he's been through. But, he's just and good. Fucked up, but good. That's my kind of hero – he's real, you know? That's what goodness is – being good, even when it's inconvenient, even when something else would be so much easier. No one is really good until they're good despite it being the most difficult option. And that's Wolverine, you know? Hard, but gold inside."

Derek nods until Stiles gives him a significant look and it dawns on him in the middle of his nodding that Stiles is likening _him_ to Wolverine. He looks up from under his lashes and Stiles' heart thumps in an embarrassing way. He feels his face heat up and he just admits, barely a whisper,

"I've been in love with you since I was sixteen."

Derek looks so caught off guard that Stiles wants to kiss his slack mouth, wants to get his hands all over Derek's stupid looking face. He hopes the hearts in his eyes aren't visible. He breathes out, like the sentence had been weighing on his lungs for the last three years. He knows his hands are shaking a little, but he also knows he can't help it. He smiles nervously and says,

"I know – I know you can't like – that saying it is kind of…uhm…that it's difficult for you. So. You don't have to. Say it. That. Or anything – I'm not assuming here or anything, I mean – I just – you don't have to say it back. I just… I've just been holding it in. And you're asking me about my favorite hero and my favorite hero is you? So…"

Silence falls and it's not entirely uncomfortable. It's not awkward. It feels new, though. Precarious, a little dangerous, a little too fresh. Stiles busies himself with shoving an inordinate amount of food into his face as fast as he can. He also curses at himself inwardly because Derek is looking about as prepared as Bambi on ice. Stiles drops his gaze before he makes his love sickness too obvious and Derek shocks him by replying,

"If there's anyone in the world that I can say those words to, it's you."

Stiles pauses before swallowing loudly. Derek nods, looking like, for all the world he wants to say those words, but they won't come out yet. They're not fully cooked. The tone won't be perfect, the way the letters fall into place won't be precise the way that Derek wants them to be. The words won't encapsulate what he's feeling and so he can't say them until they're marinated, until they're bursting with rightness. Stiles gets it and he feels hopeful. Derek chuckles in a charming way and his smile is blinding. He stares at Stiles' lips when he says,

"It's always you. Always has been," Then his beautiful eyes move back to Stiles' and he says, "Always will be."

It's not the declaration that Stiles has been dreaming of since high school, but it hits him just as hard. He feels it just as much. Maybe more. He knows he's still going to dream of what "I love you," will sound like on Derek's tongue. He knows he'll still wonder what it feels like to be the focus of Derek's confession. He knows he can wait for it. So he smiles, he leans over the table and kisses Derek's soft mouth and sighs. It's just a gentle press of their lips, but when he pulls away Derek's eyes are sparkling with something a little glazed, romantic and captivating. Like he's as stupid over Stiles as Stiles is over him. Stiles smirks and asks lowly,

"Hey, Derek?"

"Mm?"

And Stiles feels the vibration of that, so close to Derek's mouth and every nerve ending is excited. He asks,

"Can you teach my how to moonwalk?"

Derek takes a moment to process that, eyes still stuck on Stiles' mouth, but when he does, he sits upright. His eyebrows do something fantastic and impressive that Stiles has never seen them do before and all Derek really makes out before Stiles starts hysterically laughing is,

"How do you know about that?"

**Author's Note:**

> I have been warned that Derek_the_Dalek has created their own version of this story. I thank everyone that emailed me, inboxed me and commented to let me know. After having posted it, Derek_the_Dalek wrote to me and I've said that it's okay with me to keep the story up. Thank you to everyone that looked out for me and let me know; all is well! <3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Derek Hale's Possible Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5592586) by [readbythilia (thilia)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thilia/pseuds/readbythilia)




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